Afghanistan

Winter's chill has settled over the Afghan capital, and with it, privation is sharpening, especially among the city's poor. (..) Seasonal hardship is nothing new for Afghans, but a combination of factors is making this winter harder than usual to bear. Despite billions of dollars in international assistance over the last decade, urban poverty is becoming more entrenched across Afghanistan, aid workers say. The U.N. World Food Program, which normally expends most of its efforts in the countryside, recently launched a food voucher system in Kabul, giving nearly 19,000 poor families about $25 a month for basic supplies.

The United Nations World Food Programme, WFP announced on Tuesday that they have agreed to contribute $3 million dollars towards a project to help the urban poor cope with high food prices. (..) About 18,900 households including some 113,000 individuals, mostly poor women and households headed by the disabled will benefit from the project. (..) “We are launching this project after the successful implementation of similar programs in other Afghan cities where it has had a positive impact on household food security,” said WFP Deputy Country Director Bradley Guerrant.

No country has had a more troubled recent history than Afghanistan. (..) We have already supplied thousands of tonnes of grain, flour and rice to help feed the Afghan people and are ready to send more under procurement programs run by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). We intend to share the fruits of what is a record grain harvest in Kazakhstan this year.

(..) According to the Minister, Kazakhstan is ready to provide more grain, flour and food products for Afghanistan including under the procurement programmes of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

As drought and high food prices have descended upon Afghanistan, safety nets have been taken away from children. Low funding for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) means 1.5 million Afghan children are no longer receiving a school feeding ration.

Despite ten years of a foreign military presence, the future of Afghanistan looks gloomy, with a weak and struggling government accused of corruption and an increase in violent insurgency, uncertainty will be increased in 2014, when all NATO troops will leave the country. (..) To add the country's problems, it has also been hit by the worst drought in a decade, with the World Food Programme saying it expects that 2.6 million people will need aid.

After 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan, US and Nato allies remain far from reaching their goals, a former commander of coalition forces has said. (..) The country is also facing its worst drought for a decade, with the World Food Programme saying it expects that 2.6 million people will need aid.

(..) The UN World Food Programme says public distributions are running extremely low, and they are only able to help half the people who need aid. Meanwhile, the countries rulers stage outsized military parades, and some wonder whether food donations are being siphoned off to them.

The UN has launched an emergency appeal for $142m to help an estimated 3 million people in Afghanistan affected by drought in 14 provinces, about half of the country. (..) In June, due to shortage of funds, the UN's World Food Programme was forced to reduce food aid to millions of Afghans so it could concentrate on helping the most vulnerable in areas with the highest levels of food insecurity.